


The Imitation of Life

by badboy_fangirl



Category: Real Person Fiction, Vampire Diaries RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 04:28:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10677678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badboy_fangirl/pseuds/badboy_fangirl
Summary: Ian gets the script for 3x22. Ian is sad.





	The Imitation of Life

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: Every story I wrote about NIan was written between December 2010 and January 2014. These are old and hold no bearing on how things actually were, are, or will be. I know Ian is married now, and I am not trying to be disrespectful. For all these years, I kept these stories locked on LiveJournal and protected, and it just occurred to me that these are just stories, and these are as much characters as any of the other fanfic I've ever written. It also represents a lot of my creative time and energy and I'm proud of these stories. So I'm posting them now, with the intent that others might enjoy them.

After a day of shopping with Candice and Claire in Atlanta, Nina is exhausted, but in that way that makes her smile sleepily and feel super contented. Usually this late in the season, there is no time for shopping trips, there is only shooting, ADR, shooting, and no sleeping.  
  
It's a miracle that March has arrived, and she's able to go buy sun dresses for her planned vacations in Hawaii and California. She had wanted to find nice, comfy dresses for Coachella, and she totally did, one jewel-bright blue one, and a great orange number that she can't wait to put on for Ian.   
  
The nice thing about dating a sometime-model? He totally noticed clothes. Of course, he was like any other man in that he noticed her naked more quickly, but he was usually good enough to act interested when she showed off her purchases.  
  
She lets herself into the loft, and calls for him, but there's no answer. She sets her bags down and wanders through the house, stepping over a sleeping cat or two on the way.  
  
When she finds him, he's lying in their bed, with one arm thrown over his eyes.  
  
Assuming he's napping, she climbs carefully on to the bed and snuggles down into him, her head on his chest. He jumps and his hand quickly lands on her back. "Oh, hey," he murmurs, his voice froggy.  
  
"I'm home," she returns, rubbing her face against his t-shirt. "Did you miss me?" she asks, pressing a kiss to his nipple through the shirt.  
  
He hugs her tightly, both of his arms surrounding her and then he says, "The courier dropped off 3x22."  
  
Nina's head snaps up and she looks around excitedly. For all that shooting a television show is life-draining, she still can't wait to see what happens next. "Where is it?" she asks before her eyes land on it. One of the scripts lies on the corner of the bed, the pages already bent. "You read it without me?" she demands, only half-kidding. The finales were the biggest episodes, and it was sort of a tradition that they read them together. Well, really, it would be a tradition if he'd waited to read this one with her, because they had read 2x22 together. 1x22 had been the final straw that broke the camel's back in getting them into a relationship, but they hadn't read that one together.   
  
(They had practiced the kissing scenes privately, however.)  
  
"I couldn't wait," he says morosely. "Now, I wish I'd never read it. It's terrible."   
  
Nina sits up and grabs the script. "What?" she asks, looking down at him. "How is it terrible?"  
  
Ian shakes his head and covers his eyes again with his arm. "It's just...Elena. She picks Stefan. She chooses Stefan, and...ugh. It's just. I mean, it's not like I didn't see this coming, but it still just..." he trails off and Nina can't help the giggles that start escaping her mouth.  
  
She covers her face with her hand, but that just makes it worse, and when he finally realizes she's laughing, he jerks his arm back up to glare at her. "Shut up!" he cries. "I can feel sad if I want to. Damon's wrecked, Neen.  _Wrecked_. And then  _Ric_  dies, and then Elena dies. So there. I ruined it for you."  
  
"We already knew that Ric was going to die, and that meant Elena had to die, too, silly," she says, trying to control her laughter. She finally suppresses her giggles, but she can't stop smiling, and when she reaches over to pat Ian's arm, he jerks it out of range. "Oh, come on, pouty," she says, giving him a playful slap on the face.  
  
He sits up and scoots back so he's leaning against the headboard of their bed. He crosses his arms over his chest and gives her narrowed eyes and huffiness to such a huge extent that it's really hard for her to not laugh some more. In an effort of gargantuan size, she presses her lips together hard and maintains eye contact.  
  
He says nothing, just stares at her accusingly, so she finally says, "You do know that we'll still be together, even if Damon and Elena never hook up, right?"  
  
"Not if you keep laughing about it," he snipes, swinging his legs off the bed.  
  
She calls after him as he leaves the bedroom, but he doesn't respond. She settles down to read, and wonders if she should remind him that he isn't a 13-year-old girl having a shipper war with another 13-year-old girl.   
  
Instead, she gets lost in the adventures of everyone in Mystic Falls.  
  
  
  
  
  
By the time she finishes reading, he's watching television in the front room, and she's wiping tears from her cheeks. She sits, digesting everything, imagining Elena as a vampire. Imagining a whole show with Elena,  _as a vampire_.  
  
There are so many possibilities, and it's remarkable. She's excited and terrified all at once, because how she's going to do this, make Elena the vamp different than Elena the human without crossing into Katherine territory — it's going to be difficult. She's going to have to do a lot of internalizing and deep thinking before coming back to this.  
  
All the same, there are some things she needs to point out to the boy in the front room, who is actually already internalizing Damon's grief over this whole thing. Of course it's heart-wrenching, and she can only imagine how easy it's going to be to sob through the 'good-bye' phone call with him. But still. He's looking at this all wrong.  
  
She goes into the living room to find him watching  _Mean Girls_. "Nothing on, huh?" she asks as she eases into the space beside him on the sofa.  
  
He lifts an eyebrow at her. "Nothing," he confirms. "But there's something about this, if it's on, I have to stop and watch it, at least until a commercial break."  
  
She slides her legs over his lap and he encourages this by lifting his arms so she can get situated. Then he pats her leg and rests a hand on her knee. "You still mad at me?" she asks with a small smile.  
  
"Aw, you know I'm not mad at you. It's just hard."  
  
She puts her hand over his on her knee. "I know. But aren't you the one who told me, after Damon and Rebekah hooked up, that it's better to read these scripts without any expectations?" She squeezes his hand. "You know better than anyone how quickly it can change. Damon and Elena are buddies, more-than-buddies, estranged buddies, make-out-buddies, etc. I assume we'll go through many more ups and downs as the show goes on."  
  
He blows out a breath. "I know. Believe me, I'd like to be less emotionally invested. It's not like I would tell her to pick Damon. He's a prick! He's an awful person. Elena should not be with him. But,  _god_ , I want him to finally get the girl. Or at least stop mooning over _not_  getting the girl."  
  
"Well, maybe he will," Nina says. "I mean, she's pretty straight with him, right? If that doesn't set him free from 'hope,' I don't know what will. But you are missing the whole point of this, you know."  
  
He scoffs. "You mean the throw away line about them meeting first, and then—guess what, they did meet first!"  
  
"Ian—"  
  
"No, seriously, what difference does that make, even if Damon was way nicer than I would have expected him to be?"  
  
"Ian—"  
  
"Damon has done everything, he's complied in so many ways, and yet it's still not enough, it will never be eno—"  
  
"Ian!" Nina leans forward and puts her hand over his mouth. "Shut up! God, what a girl you are! Listen, listen, okay?" His eyes are still a bit wild, but he makes an effort to relax and when he does, she removes her hand from his mouth. "Okay? Look, whatever choice Elena makes here can't stick, don't you see? Because the choice she's making is for the life she is  _currently_  living, which won't be the life she's living come next season. She's going to be a vampire. So everything changes. Wouldn't you rather she choose Stefan and have that happen, then have her choose Damon and have that happen? I mean, if we're talking about the eventuality of them. They stand a much better chance now, in my humble opinion, than they ever did before. Think about it."  
  
He stays quiet for a moment, then two, and for once, it seems, perhaps she has managed to shut him up a little bit. It's a small miracle, if Nina's being totally honest. The guy could talk the hind leg off a donkey.  
  
"I guess you've got a point," he finally says, and she leans in to kiss his mouth.  
  
"You're kinda cute when you're all worked up," she teases, nipping at his bottom lip.  
  
He tugs her closer and says against her mouth, "I think I'm pretty cute, most of the time. And so do you."  
  
"Damon's a terrible person, or  _you're_  a terrible person?"  
  
He doesn't answer her, he just gets his mouth open over hers and then she's straddling him, and the rest of it ceases to matter for the time being.  
  
  
  
  
  
They're in bed, and she's almost asleep when he says, "What will it take, I wonder. For Elena to love Damon?"  
  
She'd roll her eyes, but she'd have to open them to do that, so she just jostles herself against him, since he's spooned around her. "She already loves him, you idiot," she answers.  
  
"No, she doesn't. If she did, she would go to him. If she loved him, she wouldn't let him die alone."  
  
Nina's eyes fly open and though she can't see anything because it's dark in their bedroom, she can't stop her irritation from showing itself. "Ohmigod. Ian. Seriously. First of all, Damon's  _not_  dying. Second of all, of course she loves Damon. She's afraid of how he makes her feel. Imagine that someone makes you feel all these crazy emotions, and now, maybe you're about to lose them forever, or maybe you're not. To go to him, to choose him, and then have him live? What kind of message is that? Elena's the good girl. She is _good_. Loving Damon, who by your own admission, is an awful person, is  _hard_. She loves him and she can't logically understand it. So she runs from it, she hides from it.  
  
"And we've talked about this before, so I don't understand why you're lamenting it now."  
  
He takes a deep breath, and his wistfulness fills the room. "It's sad. The whole thing, it's just really sad. I'm sick and tired of Damon being sad. And now,  _I'm_  sad! I don't like it."  
  
"You think too much," she says, patting his hand where it rests over her belly.  
  
"I know," he says.  
  
She pulls his hand up to her mouth and presses a kiss against his palm. "Ian, I love you, but sometimes you are very short-sighted. A series means going through all kinds of emotions and character arcs, and, I mean, this isn't new to you. Why do you make it so hard on yourself?"  
  
He sighs again. "I just want him to bust out of it. I want Damon to just not give a fuck anymore."  
  
"Well, that's never gonna happen," she says, turning over to face him. "He waited for 145 years for his first love. He'll wait that long for Elena, maybe longer. Maybe you signed on to play the villain, but instead you're playing the most romantic guy on the show. Which is actually fitting." She puts a hand against his cheek as it suddenly clicks for her. " _That's_  what this is about! You see too much of yourself in Damon, now, huh? Oh, that's funny. You poor baby. Now, it's not even acting, it's just being, and you're all  _whine, whine, whine._ "  
  
"Shut up," he mutters and Nina can't help it, she just starts laughing. Grabbing his face with both hands, she places kisses in a random pattern across his cheeks and nose and mouth. He pretends to protest a bit, but the second time she grazes his lips with hers, he lunges up a bit and captures her mouth with his.  
  
When she's breathless, he lets her go, and she pants, "See? My point exactly."  
  
"I hate you," he grouses.  
  
She pushes him on to his back and climbs on top of him. "You love me," she replies. "You're actually  _so_  in love with me that it pains you when the fictional versions of us aren't together. You lament and pine and do a very good impersonation of Damon Salvatore, and then you wonder why Julie writes you that way."  
  
His fingers are pushing the t-shirt she'd worn to bed up and over her head as she makes this pronouncement, and then when his lips find one of her breasts, she stops talking altogether. His tongue rasps over her nipple, and his teeth gently tug on it until she's gasping his name.  
  
"Maybe," he breathes against her skin, "maybe we ought to discuss how like your character you are, huh? How you made this guy beg and plead and woo you extensively before you would go out with him, and how he was so crazy for you by the time he finally got you, he didn't know up from down? Or how, he'd never had to work so hard for something, ever, and now he's basically ruined for all other women?"  
  
He drags his open mouth up her throat, his breath hot and wicked over her sensitive skin. She grinds down on him because she can feel how ready he is, even if he's somehow trying to have a conversation in the middle of this, and she doesn't want to talk, doesn't want to remember how she tortured them both for so long, because it had been far harder on her than she has ever revealed to him.  
  
Instead she teases him with, "Maybe that was my plan, all along," in a whisper against his lips.  
  
(It hadn't been. Like Elena, she had simply been terrified of how he made her feel, and how beautiful he was, and how smart and wonderful and perfect he could appear to be. She had wondered for a long time how someone like him could ever find someone like her remotely interesting.)  
  
"Well, it worked," he whispers back, his hands smoothing down to her hips to lift her up and over him.   
  
As he slides inside her, they both catch their breath, and Nina says the only truth she can grasp on to in the moment. "I love you, Ian."  
  
(She tries really hard to never torture him now, not about stuff like that.)  
  
"I know," he says, managing to sound cocky even while he's panting beneath her.  
  
Nina buries her face against his throat and loses herself. In the sweet aftermath, with his hand stroking through her hair, he presses a kiss to her temple. "I'll love you at least as long as Damon loves Elena," he says, his voice soft.  
  
She snuggles against him, falling to sleep, and knows he means it from the bottom of his heart.  
  
It's why she finally gave in.  
  
(It's why Elena will someday, too.)

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically meta disguised as fic, just FYI.


End file.
